Threaded Emails Displays

20 Mar 2008 - 11:33am

Last reply:
7 years ago

4 replies

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Kevin Silver1

2006

I'm currently working on a redesign on an application that creates
threads of emails and related information. I was wondering if anyone
knows of really good examples beyond google mail and the threading in
apple mail. My focus is on how to display the threads, which are
central to the application, limiting the amount the user has to drill
down to separate pages.

Comments

20 Mar 2008 - 3:00pm

Calvin Park 박상빈

2007

I'm not sure what you're asking for so my answer might be OT...

I personally love gmail's threadding, so I'd make a gmail clone and
start adding features like:
- attaching and detaching mails to a conversation (those Re: replies
breaking the conversation is pretty annoying)
- attaching and detaching notes to a conversaion

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 9:33 AM, Kevin Silver <kevin at clearwired.com> wrote:
> I'm currently working on a redesign on an application that creates> threads of emails and related information. I was wondering if anyone> knows of really good examples beyond google mail and the threading in> apple mail. My focus is on how to display the threads, which are> central to the application, limiting the amount the user has to drill> down to separate pages.>> Thanks,>> Kevin>> Kevin Silver> Clearwired Web Services>> 10899 Montgomery, Suite C> Albuquerque, NM 87109>> office: 505.217.3505> toll-free: 866.430.2832> fax: 505.217.3506>> e: kevin at clearwired.com> w: www.clearwired.com>>>>> ________________________________________________________________> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help>

20 Mar 2008 - 3:24pm

Jeff Howard

2004

Hi Kevin,

The flip side to this is looking at what to avoid. It's really
possible to go overboard with threading. Gmail and Apple Mail strike
a nice balance, but sites like Slashdot and our own Mailman archives
represent threading relationships with more fidelity than is
generally necessary.

Some people really love that level of detail, and in some cases it
can be helpful, so it really depends on your audience. For
multi-participant threads, does it matter who was replying to who, or
simply in what order the messages were written?

// jeff

Kevin wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone knows of really good examples> beyond google mail and the threading in apple mail.

There is an excellent program called trn, Threaded Read News. It has
this great feature that you can follow threads as they branch in
different directions. This is the only program I've seen which
actually maintains the tree structure of a thread rather than
treating it as linear. E.g.

(1) -(1)--(2)--[2]
%u2502-(1) -
%u2502 \-[1]
\-(1) -[1]--[1]
\-[1]

This tree represents an initial article that has three direct replies
(the second column with three (1)%u2019s). Each reply has further
replies branching off from them. In two cases the subject line was
altered in the reply, as indicated by the increasing numbers. (from
the manual)

This is an text-based POSIX program which I use on Ubuntu; I imagine
it should work on the OSX command line.

I find branching discussions confusing. Here is why: the discussions unfold
over a period of time. I might read several responses before I write my own
to the original message. With the branched navigation I create an unwieldy
semantic tree, where my response to the 2nd message, which incorporates the
ideas from the 4th and 6th message is presented apart from the 4th and the
6th messages:

1-2-3-4-5-6
|_mine

Gmail does it right: it flattens all the possible branches into one
timeline. This results in several "civilizing" effects: 1) it discourages
multiple branches in one thread, 2) it keeps discussion more focused on the
original topic in the title, 3) people tend to read entire thread before
responding to the original message, and 4) when the discussion veers too far
from the original title, or if there is a switch in the topic, people tend
to start new "root" topic. All are good consequences. Gmail does several
other navigational things right, but that's another "root topic".

> There is an excellent program called trn, Threaded Read News. It has> this great feature that you can follow threads as they branch in> different directions. This is the only program I've seen which> actually maintains the tree structure of a thread rather than> treating it as linear. E.g.>>> (1) -(1)--(2)--[2]> %u2502-(1) -> %u2502 \-[1]> \-(1) -[1]--[1]> \-[1]>> This tree represents an initial article that has three direct replies> (the second column with three (1)%u2019s). Each reply has further> replies branching off from them. In two cases the subject line was> altered in the reply, as indicated by the increasing numbers. (from> the manual)>> This is an text-based POSIX program which I use on Ubuntu; I imagine> it should work on the OSX command line.>>http://trn.sourceforge.net/>>> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .> Posted from the new ixda.org>http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27411>>> ________________________________________________________________> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help>